You don't need to discontinue it, you just need to price it accordingly. The price jump between a 15" and 17" is unjust when the parts are not all that different in cost, which brings up a point: if the 17" is profitable, why remove it, regardless of how slow it sells? We keep on hearing these rumors that the real "Pro" level computers(Mac Pro and MBP) are being dropped are altered away from their original roots, and it's all a bit unsettling. I like what these pro machines stand for, regardless of how slow they might sell, because to me at least, they are the computer I will eventually want to own. It's like Mercedes dropping the S-class because it's a slow seller when compared to the E-class. The most people buying a Mercedes, they get into a lower mark, and eventually go up to that S-class. What is Apple going to replace that dream of wanting that top-end machine when these are being rumored to go extinct?

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” Marcus Aurelius